Cool Kid brings cheer and wagging tails

kabc

By ABC7

Friday, October 2, 2009

LOS ANGELES At SPCA-LA, dogs have a temporary home. Erik felt a need to make that home a little better.

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"I knew I wanted to do something with one of the local animal shelters so I came here and asked if they needed something done," said Erik. "They brought me back here and said we'd really like to have a fence back here."

The project was more than just building the fence. Erik also had to buy the materials needed. It was up to him to raise that money any way he could.

"I actually painted curbs in the city of Torrance. I painted the address numbers," said Erik. "Also at the Biola Youth Academy, we did muffin sales. I sold muffins there every week for about two or three months."

Some people do these projects solely for academic credits. But SPCA-LA saw that Erik was doing this with a more personal feeling.

"He had to write a proposal, he had to fundraise for it," said /*Madeline Bernstein*/, SPCA-LA President. "He had to get the supplies, get the group together then he had to actually build it. You can see by walking around with him, what a sweetheart he is. It's coming from the heart."

Certainly lots of hard work was put in, but Erik also got lots of enjoyment out of it.

"It's helping the community doing something that not necessarily everybody does," said Erik. "It's just fun. I don't know why but we all have a good time doing it."

Making dogs' tails wag a little happier, it is our Cool Kid Erik Schiller.